eBay is attempting to crack down on the offline deals between its buyers and sellers which avoid the fees normally paid to the online auction company.
eBay plans to firstly warn, then suspend members who use their eBay connection to carry out offline transactions. For example, it is against eBay rules for a person to contact a losing bidder to offer that person the same product without going through eBay.
Under the rules, sellers are banned from offering to sell items offline to people other than the high bidder in their auctions. This means that sellers would violate the rules if they contacted not only people bidding on competitors' auctions, but those bidding on their own items.
Sellers are also not allowed to send unsolicited email to people about products similar to what they have bid on in the past.
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eBay LogoThe rules also target bidders, banning them from contacting sellers about purchasing a listed item away from eBay.
These sorts of scenarios are not uncommon on eBay. Many small businesses use eBay like they would banner ads or newspaper classifieds: as a way to draw in new customers.
It is not unusual, for instance, for sellers to contact losing bidders, offering similar goods to the ones which they had just sold. And buyers often contact sellers to find out whether they can purchase items in advance of the date the auction closes.
Part of the problem is that eBay is not able to collect a fee on sales between eBay members that occur offline. It is quite possible that the new rules are merely part of an effort to boost the company's revenues.
To me, eBay's new rules seem quite pointless. Anyone who wants to regularly bypass auctions could simply create an alias to...